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He shook his head. “You and my aunt. You both got along really well.”

“Were we not supposed to?”

“No, no. It’s not that.” He sighed into the passing wind. “She can hover a bit.”

“Just a bit,” she replied with no malice behind the words.

It made him laugh. “She means well.”

“I can tell she loves you. Very much.”

He nodded, the glass in his hand sagging slightly over the railing.

“I’m sorry … about earlier.”

“What for?”

“In the car … I didn’t mean to clam up on you like that. I just didn’t know what to say.”

Coming up next to him, Pilar leaned into the railing and faced him.

“About?”

He sighed again. “Just … what you brought up. It reminded me of my sister. She … ah. Passed away when I was younger. Cancer.”

“Oh …” Her voice was soft. “I’m sorry, Maverick.”

He took in a shuddering breath. “It’s okay … it was a long time ago. Even though sometimes it still hurts.”

He hated that his voice cracked, even just a bit. No matter how long it’d been since he’d said goodbye to his sister, he still had a hard time coming to terms with it some days. Life could be cruel and unfair, especially to the best people. It never sat right with him.

A warm hand came up to rest on his back. “I understand. My sister is all I have left. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her.”

He nodded, turning to look at her.

She gave him a small smile. “We both have people we’ve loved, and we’ve lost. It hurts, but the best that we can do is to continue living. It’s what they’d want.”

“Yeah.” He hated how raw and exposed he felt.

Pilar took her hand away from his back and grabbed his glass out of his hands. She turned and placed them on the balcony railing before facing him again and then bringing him into a tight hug, surprising him.

“It’s okay to be sad sometimes, Maverick,” she said into his ear. “That’s what makes you human.”

He buried his head into her shoulder, bringing his own arms around her waist. Her soft heartbeat was a reminder that he should focus on the here and now instead of dwelling on the past.

He took in another shuddering breath and whispered, “Thank you.”

CHAPTERNINE

PILAR

The next morning, they both got up early to head to Maverick’s lab.

Once she’d had a cup of coffee, he’d told her that he needed to check on the status of his team and how the Pod was coming along since he’d been absent.

While Pilar didn’t exactly approve of him leaving the safe confines of his penthouse … now that they’d been attacked on more than one occasion … she could understand his want for a change of scenery and to make sure that Sunstone Labs was still up and running.

When they arrived, Pilar had been impressed by the clean interior. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when stepping through the automatic front doors, but it certainly wasn’t the futuristic look of the main lobby.


Tags: Milly Taiden Paranormal